them (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Plot: Neonaturalism
- Time of Work: 1937-1967
- Setting: The Midwest and Detroit
- Principal Characters: Loretta Wendall, Howard Wendall, Jules Wendall, Maureen Wendall
- Genres: Long fiction, Naturalistic literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, Family or family life, Murder or homicide, 1940’s, Midwest, 1930’s, Violence, Romanticism
- Locales: Midwest (U.S.)
The Novel
Joyce Carol Oates’s them begins with Loretta Botsford: “One warm evening in August 1937 a girl in love stood before a mirror.” She is enchanted with her own reflection, and she dreams about the future. She is less pleased with her last name because it has “no melody.” She creates a kind of fairy-tale setting for herself that has been deeply influenced by her fascination with the movies. The reality is that she lives a cramped existence in a “fair-sized city on a Midwestern canal,” and her unstable brother, Brock, brutally ends her fantasies by...
[The entire page is 2020 words long]
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